Low fares airline Monarch is to boost its presence at its home base, London Luton Airport, with the addition of new aircraft and the introduction of new routes.

From 01 May 2007, the airline will open new routes from London to Ibiza and Almeria, as well as adding new daily services to Faro and Palma. A new Airbus A320 will be added to the Luton based fleet - an investment of £30 million and with it, 50 new jobs will be created for pilots, cabin crew and ground support staff, adding to the 1100 already employed by the Monarch Group at Luton.

Highlights for the Summer 2007 schedule include:

Ibiza ***New Route*** up to five flights per week

Almeria ***New Route*** four flights per week

Palma - increases from one flight to nine flights per week

Faro - increases from five flights per week to a daily service

Commenting on the expansion at Luton, managing director of Monarch's scheduled services, Tim Jeans said, "Luton has been Monarch's home base for almost 40 years and our expansion here is good news as it provides people with a real choice of airline and our trademark service - which our passengers love. They're fed up with the cattle-truck conditions and catering from the British Rail era, found on many 'no frills' airlines. They want to be treated like paying customers and that's what Monarch delivers on every flight".

Monarch will operate the following scheduled services from Luton for Summer 2007:

Ibiza - new route, operating on Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 24 May with fares from £39.99 one way

Almeria - new route, operating on Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 03 May with fares from £44.99 one way

Palma - increases to nine flights per week with fares from £39.99 one way

Faro - increases to daily flights with fares from £39.99 one way

Alicante - daily service with fares from £39.99 one way

Gibraltar - daily service with fares from £39.99 one way

Gran Canaria - one flight per week with fares from £66.99 one way

Lanzarote - one flight per week with fares from £66.99 one way

Malaga - increasing to 13 flights per week with fares from £39.99 one way

Menorca - 4 flights per week with fares from £44.99 one way

Tenerife - 5 flights per week with fares from £61.99 one way

Flights for Monarch's Summer 2007 schedule from Luton have gone on sale today. Fares include complimentary daily newspapers, a refreshing hot towel service and require no additional payment for checking-in baggage; also available is a unique range of tasty hot and cold meals with prices from £3.00. Seats can be pre-booked at £5 per one-way flight to avoid the last minute free-for-all, or for only £15, why not try one of the 48 extra-legroom seats which offer up to six inches of extra space? Regular travellers are rewarded too, with a range of benefits through the airline's loyalty scheme, Vantage Club.

For more information or to book, visit www.flymonarch.com or call 08700 40 63 00.

Founded in 1968, Monarch Airlines is part of the Monarch group of companies together with Monarch Aircraft Engineering Ltd and tour operators Cosmos and seat-only specialists Avro. Monarch is one of the UK's largest leisure airlines and the principal independent supplier of charter seats to tour operators large and small, flying to around 100 destinations across Europe, America, Africa and Asia from the UK's principal and regional airports.

The scheduled service division of Monarch Airlines offers low cost services from Aberdeen, Birmingham, Blackpool, London Luton, London Gatwick and Manchester Airports to destinations in Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar.

The airline, based at Luton, operates one of the most well-equipped fleets in the skies today comprising 20 Airbus and eight Boeing aircraft.